#  Nozomi Ikuta, MDiv '82, and James Watson 

 



   ![Nozomi Ikuta and James Watson](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/hds2/files/nozomi_and_james.jpg?itok=vzue2abM) 

 

**Type of planned gift: Charitable gift annuity**

**About Nozomi and James:**

For Nozomi Ikuta, MDiv ’82, and James Watson, ministry and social justice have long been central to their lives.

While Nozomi is a minister and James a scientist (as well as a retired teacher and bike shop owner), their careers both “involved some shared concerns for our neighborhood and community,” Nozomi says.

She started her career at a small American Baptist Church near Ithaca, New York, while James pursued a PhD program in neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University. When he began a post-doc at Columbia University, the couple moved to New York City with their two young children, where Nozomi received a DMin at New York Theological Seminary.

As James was concluding his post-doc, professional opportunities for Nozomi at the United Church of Christ led them back to her hometown of Cleveland. She worked with the national offices of the UCC for 11 years, which, she says, “broadened my horizons and deepened my identity as a woman of color and commitment to racial justice.”

Meaningful work in that position included involvement with the Puerto Rican campaign to free their political prisoners, which led to President Bill Clinton’s decision to commute some of their sentences in 1999. Nozomi also led delegations to the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to protest the use of the island as a bombing range.

James became involved in the protests as well, and his experiences led him to leave his research job at a prominent university because, he says, it was becoming increasingly reliant on military grants. Shifting to a career more in line with his values, he became a high school science teacher in the Cleveland public school system.

Nozomi went on to serve as pastor at the Denison Avenue United Church of Christ in Cleveland. She and James moved from their suburban home to the Denison neighborhood in 2010, and James opened a bike shop there soon after.

Under Nozomi’s leadership, the church became more diverse, reconnected with the neighborhood, and ran a homeless shelter for four years. As Nozomi tells it, “We would leave our house in the morning and walk six minutes to the church, and the bike shop was around the corner from that. We were really invested in that urban space between our house, the church, and the bike shop. That kind of urban investment is a reflection of some of the values that we picked up at HDS.”

Now retired and living in New York, they are enjoying their new lives in Harlem, proximity to their family, and work for justice and freedom in Palestine.

In recognition of HDS’s influence on Nozomi’s life and career, she and James set up a Charitable Gift Annuity.

**What did you find meaningful about your time at HDS?**

**Nozomi:** HDS was extremely formative in terms of immersion in social justice and urban ministry, which shaped the rest of my life. HDS had a lot of field placements in urban churches and settings, such as Rosie's Place and homeless shelters. I did fieldwork in the South End before it really gentrified. The broader Boston context also provided a rich setting for our participation in the peace movement and our NYC-to-San Francisco bike trip for peace after I graduated. I also appreciated that HDS was not just interdenominational or ecumenical, but interfaith. I probably was already predisposed to these values, but my HDS field education helped crystalize my commitment to them.

I had several great professors, including Professor Sharon Parks, who introduced me to Paulo Freire and Freirean pedagogy. This came into play with my work with the Puerto Rican community in Chicago later on. Working with that community helped me really understand what those concepts look like on the ground in real life—after reading about them in the classroom.

**James:** I wasn’t an HDS student, but I would visit Nozomi on campus sometimes. In my experience, before spending time at HDS, I found that most people would talk about religion in an evangelical, fundamentalist, dogmatic way. But that wasn’t the case at HDS. I was also impressed with the folks at HDS; they were very inquisitive, open minded, and smart.

**Why did you decide to make a planned gift to HDS?**

**Nozomi:** From a practical standpoint, we wanted to make an investment that would provide a steady income as part of our overall retirement strategy. I think it makes sense for people to do this, even if they don’t have huge portfolios.

I got a lot out of my HDS education. Over the course of my career, I’ve realized how foundational those experiences were and how well they cohered. HDS formed sort of a template for me that said, "This is really what spiritual life is about. It's about engagement with the world." So I wanted to give back.

**James:** The values and morals and principles that are universal to all religions are vital for society to function and for humans to live. So, when we were deciding where we were going to make a gift annuity, we wanted to support HDS.

—*by Sarah Rubin, donor relations officer*